What would be/is your Jewel in the crown

I must say as a Newbie what a fantastic source of information this forum is.... I appologise if this has been asked before and Mod's please feel free to take down if inappropriate but I'm really curious as to what people feel is their holy grail, ever to try/dream of owning or if you are lucky enough to have wouldn't part with :)

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My favourite item in my collection is the Black Seas Barracuda. When I was young it was my dream to own it, so when my mother found it in the thrift store where she volunteers I was like: "If you ever give it to anyone, it as to be ME". So she gave it to me. I was in my dark age then, mostly because I was a poor student, but I treasured it. There were a few missing pieces, but I'm working on that now. It's also my oldest set and the only one I don't plan to use for MOCs, but only as a display piece. It already has it's own husband-approved spot in our future house.

It's not especially expensive or anything, but as my first big set, given to me by my mother, it has a sentimental value.

Very hard to say, but 'Tolkien' Lego (LOTR+Hobbit) is my favourite theme (after that the Castle theme). Many minifigs from that theme are also amongst those I like best. If I had to name one set of the 'Tolkien' theme, I guess I would say #79003 (Bag End), even though the tower of Orthanc is much more imposing. Bag End really is a gem, however mine is completely overrun with minifigs sitting and standing everywhere in and on it, not only from LOTR but also from other themes such as DC & Marvel superheroes, and Harry Potter, Lone Ranger, and Prince of Persia.For a long time my most precious set was #10210 (Imperial flagship), maybe it still is, but the pirates theme is not my most favourite of all Lego themes.At the moment I am kind of obsessed with Star Wars Lego. Of that theme either the AT-AT #75054 or the combo #75053 & #75048 Ghost/Phantom ship are my favourite possessions right now. Plus, lately I enjoy constructing vehicles more then buildings, especially when the set comes with lots of Technic Lego elements. I guess that also may change the way I look at sets I have build, and how I appreciate them. I think Slave 1 will be the next perfect set for me.

Okay, I admit I cannot just pick one set, and I am not ready to part with any of all the others sets I own. :*

Based on my current collection, I'd say my "crown jewel" is my 6079 Dark Forest Fortress. It's not boxed, unfortunately, and also not really mint condition or anything special, but it is complete with instructions. I might also consider my Tower of Orthanc as my favorite collectible.

Ideally, if I could add a sealed classic Space set to my collection, that would become the ultimate crown jewel, for me. 479 Galaxy Explorer is a set of dreams, though due to lack of funds and availability, I may never get the chance to own one.

I think I have a biker bob, is that's the model which came with lego Creator. liked it, cool bike.

my current favorite is Portal of Atlantis, it is rather big, great color scheme, the sharks and the stargate are very nice in particular. oh and the minifigs too (though I also agree about Lotr minifigs being particularly good)

I also have helm's deep, battle for ninjago city and vampyre castle waiting to be built. though I have doubts that helm's deep could take the top spot, I think one of the 2 other could.

For me it would be this awesome set of 1961-67... the continental European 810 Town Plan set. Even though it was sold in 9 countries (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and Japan).... fewer than 5 examples are known to me. They don't even have one in the Billund Vault. Where the heck are they all?

I know of the existence of about 50 of the UK/Ireland/Australia version 810 Town Plan... but the continental European one that was sold in 9 countries is virtually unknown.

I suppose I'm the wrong audience for this question, since I would answer "The things I've designed and built myself". I'm not particularly one for stock sets, and I wasn't ridiculously enamored with any single one as a kid. So I suppose I'd say that, yes, my Dragon Tyrant is my crown jewel. It is all the more meaningful to me since I designed it. When you put your heart and soul into creating a model, it has a power no store-bought set ever could. When you tinker for months in LDD, thinking constantly "No, not good enough!", and then eventually come out the other side with the finished product... Well, that's crown jewel-worthy.

True: the things you design yourself, when finally satisfied with the end result, give you a sense of pride that money cannot buy. It is a different kind gratification you feel then when you are following the instruction manual building a 'stock' set. Yet I often learn a lot from studying those manuals, discovering techniques I don't have to (re)invent myself. Or when I feel the Lego design is not right, trigger me to try and change/improve it.

Yes, I quite like Gundam; I've been really influenced in my life by Mobile Fighter G Gundam, which I saw as a kid. For a while, I've been contemplating and preparing to design a Lego Gundam. I don't know which mobile suit, or even which series, or whether to do an original, but... I want to make a Lego Gundam. Which will then be the crown jewel in my collection.

I think I might actually even be enough of a builder that I would prefer Lego does not make sets of the things I'd most like to build. For example, for a long while I'd said I wish Lego would license Gundam (as if a toy company whose primary market is ages 5-9 would license a series of war dramas), but then thinking on it, what would I do? Buy the set and just build it? But I haven't designed that myself! So... I really am not the target audience for this thread. I will just say: Personally, I could never have someone else's creation proudly on display.

Lego Gundam would be a great license. I used to have a few of the Bandai sets, and they were awesome. Ugh, now I might have to get one. I've been fighting buying a Busou Shinki or two as well(Now those are some fantastic action figures). Must control....bipolar....disorder....

#6274 Caribbean Clipper MISB would easily take the cake for me.Got my hands on a #6285 so that would be my currently owned favorite, but it was used which means it was built, admired, and then disassembled and binned. That's why the Clipper has to be MISB; that way I won't do anything silly like use it to build other things!

It sounds weird I guess, but for the memories it is either #6607 or #6606. Only because they are my earliest remembered set that I had.

For my Older set in terms or rarity for me in the US, it likely would be #7727, #7730 as both are hard to find in the US and while not totally complete (reproduction stickers) they are hard to find and I love having them. Actually most, if not all my train sets, are considered jewels by me and will be displayed either in a MOC layout or in a display case once I do get a house.

I guess though if one 'old' (for me, that is Pre-2000) set had to be be picked for rarity, cost, and completeness I would say it is my #6399 Airport Shuttle in original box with instructions and all of its stickers.

As for the newer stuff (since 2000) has to be #10182 Cafe Corner as I have a #10190 Market street in box as well as a #10196 grand carousel in box but both may go up for sale at some point, where as I have a loose Market Street, and Grand Carousel is getting a bit pricey for me to open it.

#8940 KarzahniIt is the first large set that I ever owned and it will never be for sale. My mum got me it for my tenth or eleventh birthday and it's so cool. Surprisingly it doesn't have no missing pieces unlike many other old sets that I own plus I still have the extra pieces sealed in a bag :)

#10210 Imperial FlagshipThis set is one of few (others being #8169 and #8653) I wanted so badly when I was younger. This one in particular I felt like taking my moms credit card and buy it. Obviously I never had the courage and knew that if I ever done such a thing it would lead me to nothing and my parents losing trust in me.

#8635 Mobile Command CenterThis is an honorable mention since it was something that was so cool and I constantly watched reviews and gazed at pictures of this model for days and days (even to this day I wish I owned it.) Once I had my eye on it and I saw it for half price in a Christmas catalogue; however it only really struck me when I came across it in Smyths and I asked for it, my mum had said if it was cheaper then yes. I told her I saw it for half price at last Christmas. She said would've got it if I had asked for it. Since then I have asked for everything; even if it feels impossible. This has got me so far in terms of telling my parents when I never had the money to possibly get it.

It really brought back so many memories from my childhood, thank you for this thread @DarthMorl :)

What Elune said. Blackseas barracuda was the first big set i ever received as a kid...need to go back and get another...

As for now, id guesss either my ucs mf, but that may change when i finish building the ghostbhsters hq hehe.

The only set I really cant stop thinking about, and will likely go broke purchasing in misb as opposed to bricklinking is the green grocer. It simply looks beautiful and no other modular can compare in my eyes :)

For me it's my 100% complete Yellow Castle. It has a lot of sentimental value for me and I still have it built and displayed. UCS MF is certainly among my jewels, but I have to say I enjoy my Grand Carousel more. Other people would say the crown jewel would be my reproduction of Cavegod's UCS AT-AT, but I could never really display it due to it's tendency to spontaneously collapse when looked at wrong.

Great topic, some really interesting answers here. 4563 Load and Haul Railroad would be mine purely for sentimental reasons (besides the fact that it is the best looking 9v train.) We had moved to a new town in 1992 and my parents must have felt bad about it because I got it for Christmas that year despite the claims that they had no money for expensive Lego due to the moving cost, etc. While I modified the rolling stock several times over, the engine has not been taken apart since Christmas day 1992 and remains my only complete set (minus box and instructions) to survive my childhood. It's dusty, beat up, the motor seems to have lost some of its original power, and I absolutely adore it. I can't even bring myself to replace the ladder pieces that somehow broke during a move a few years back.

^Best looking 9V train? I will have to disagree. The Santa Fe Super Chief, to me, is the best looking train. Even the BNSF train is better looking than #4563. Now, if you are talking about a complete train set, I guess you would have to throw out those two :)

For sentimental reasons, #6395 Victory Lap Raceway. Every year, my grandparents (long gone) would ask me to circle some Lego sets I wanted for Christmas from the Sears Roebuck mail order catalog. I'd circle large sets every year, but this was the first large set I actually got and was elated.

I then bugged the living crap out of my parents the entire winter break to take me to KB or Children's Palace (remenber those, Midwest folks?) so I could buy more road baseplates to complete the oval track.